Wildcats Ready For Return Run At NCAA XC Championships

Saturday, November 19

Stillwater, Okla.

Northwestern

NCAA Championships

Northwestern Cross Country at Big Ten Championships on October 28, 2022 at University of Michigan Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Photo by: Alec Cohen/Northwestern Athletics

Wildcats Ready For Return Run At NCAA XC Championships

11/18/2022 9:57:00 AM | Women's Cross Country & Track

Seven Northwestern runners set for starting gun in Stillwater at sport's premier event

STILLWATER, Oklahoma -- Northwestern cross country is set to return to the NCAA Championships for the third time in program history, and first since 2002, on Saturday, November 18, at the Greiner Family Oklahoma State University Cross Country Course. The women's championship 6K is scheduled to begin at 9:20 a.m. CT, and fans not in attendance can catch all the action live on ESPNU and the ESPN App beginning at 9 a.m. CT.

LIVE RESULTS
Championships Box Draw
Women's 6K Course Map
2022 NCAA XC Championships Digital Program
Championships Central Hub

Head coach Jill Miller will send the same Wildcats septet to the Stillwater starting line that earned a Top-2 finish, and automatic invite to the Championships, at last weekend's NCAA Midwest Regional. Currently ranked No. 2 in the Midwest and No. 30 in the nation, Northwestern will be represented by seniors Rachel McCardell and Olivia Verbeke, juniors Kalea Bartolotto and Ari Marks, and sophomores Ava Earl, Katherine Hessler and Anna Hightower, with senior Hannah Hall and rookie Maddy Whitman on deck as alternates.

The 2022 Championships will be the third appearance in program history for Northwestern, as the team previously competed in 1985 and 2002. Through the years the 'Cats have been represented at the event by individuals, including McCardell last year in Tallahassee, Florida. The return to collegiate cross country's premier stage offers a chance to earn respect.

"We're gonna go and show that it's not a fluke that we're at the national championship, and we want to fight for a decent spot," Bartolotto told The Daily Northwestern this week after the team arrived in the Sooner State. "Looking at where we were four years ago, we're just not the same program at all that we are now. Jill has fostered a culture of being competitive in the Big Ten, being able to be a strong academic and athletic school and program, and just really empowering us to be strong women both on the course and off the course."

Thirty-one teams were selected to participate in the Championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of the nine regions, for a total of 18 teams. Thirteen additional teams were selected at-large. Thirty-eight individuals also selected to participate in each championship through an automatic qualifier and at-large selection process. All individual qualifiers finished in the Top-25 in their regions.